Acquired Brain Injury Program student Brent Sirignano, right, relies on his iPhone and an app called Evernote to help compensate for his impaired memory. His computer support class at Coastline Community College in Newport Beach is spending several weeks going over different mobile apps to assist their cognitive functions.

Acquired Brain Injury Program student Brent Sirignano relies on his iPhone and an app called Evernote to help compensate for his impaired memory. His computer support class at Coastline Community College in Newport Beach is spending several weeks going over different mobile apps to assist their cognitive functions.

Because his buddy needed shoes for winter formal, Brent Sirignano’s life took a turn.

The Lake Forest man then was 17, hoping for a career in law enforcement. But it was raining and his friend was speeding, and the car they were in jumped the curb, slamming into a tree.

After a month in a coma, Brent awoke in the hospital, his brain different from before. He was angry at the world and his buddy in particular.

“You don’t know what the rest of your life will be like,” he says. “I so wish this were temporary.”

After intensive physical and speech therapy, Brent has come to terms with his life. Now 20, he sits in a classroom at Coastline Community College in Newport Beach looking buff and confident.

He shows me the latest tattoo on his right forearm. Entwined with roses, it says: “Persevere.”

What kind of school teaches you to do that?

•••

Brent is halfway through Coastline’s Acquired Brain Injury Program.

He praises the program’s faculty and the classes that teach him strategies to compensate for “skills deficits,” the blanks in his brain.

Speaking deliberately and clearly, Brent explains that now he can see a future.

“This program has prepared me.”

You can’t help but be a little surprised that a world-class program is here, tucked inside a community college. There are other brain-recovery programs, but not at public-school prices.

Thirty-five years ago, Coastline was the nation’s first community college to offer cognitive retraining to brain-injured adults. It is a model for others.

“It offers a lifeline,” says Celeste Ryan, an instructor/coordinator for Special Programs and Services at Coastline. “We teach students how to develop strategies and compensation skills they will use for the rest of their lives.”

The ABI Program runs year-round, four days a week, four hours a day. It serves about 50 students with mild to severe brain injuries during each eight-week session.

Michelle Wild, a program instructor for 27 years, teaches students to use the computer as a tool to enhance cognitive skills. Today, if you have a brain injury, there’s probably an app to help with that.

On this day she’s demonstrating a task-management program that allows you to set multiple reminders to, well, nag yourself.

A calendar entry just won’t do.

“If you forget to look, it’s not going to help at all … This gives you a constant reminder until you do it.”

When students’ phones beep or chirp in class, they’re just doing their job.

Army veteran Rigoberto Saenz-Najero, 29, credits this program for his progress.

“You don’t feel alone here,” he says. “Everybody understands you.”

He suffered numerous injuries during two tours of duty in Iraq. The concussion from a blast knocked him out for an entire day.

Rigoberto says he had a little attitude at first, but gradually he began to see how the program could help him.

“Now I’m not afraid to say I need help.”

When did he start the ABI program?

To answer, Rigoberto checks the calendar on his phone: January 2011.

He shakes his head: “Without this piece of equipment … .”

•••

Every student has a story. You want to know what divided their lives into “before” and “after.”

Cheryl Rudin, 55, suffered a series of strokes 13 years ago. After her medical issues were addressed, cognitive issues remained.

“I didn’t know at first what was wrong,” she recalls. “Finding this program was a relief. I knew how to proceed.”

She’s believes she can be a role model.

“I can be a testament that you can do something after you graduate … A lot of people come here without a lot of hope.”

Although she graduated in 2010, Cheryl volunteers as a classroom aide.

“I know what students are going through … One day you’re this way and the next day you’re not.”

Barb Quintas, 30, was in a car propelled into a light pole. She had to relearn how to talk and read and write and use her right arm.

When she started the ABI Program in 2011, she found it particularly interesting to learn about the brain and how hers was affected by the crash. Barb is taking college classes – hoping to become a physical therapist’s assistant.

Students and former students sing the praises of Coastline’s ABI Program. The alumni club has over 100 members – surprising because this is, after all, a commuter school.

Their loyalty goes beyond simple school spirit. Students say they feel like family.

Phil Balis, 48, was in a car accident 10 years ago. He didn’t know he had injured the left side of his brain until he began losing his vision and speech and then had several strokes.

“I look normal, but I’m not normal, and I have to compensate for it. Here they taught me how to be a good person and deal with my injury.”

Phil says the faculty and students inspire him.

“I can’t do what I used to do – but there’s something I can do.”

That optimism is the chorus to this song everyone is singing.

Scott Friedman, 43, was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer in 2003. He knows it subtracted a lot from his life, but he believes it also added.

“Before, my focus was: How do I get more? Now it’s: How do I give back?”

At first, he was unable to formulate sentences. He lost the word “broccoli,” for example, and settled for “little green trees.” But now he writes an articulate blog, beyondinjury.com, to extend his community online. He serves on the alumni club executive board.

“What does it mean to be ‘better?’ There are some things I could do before. Now there are some things I couldn’t do before.”

On his business card, under his name, Scott identifies himself as a “Full-time Optimist.”

Students say the ABI Program helps them accept what they have and make the most of it. That’s perseverance.

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